Jewish settlers in Cyprus during the British rule, 1880s-1940s
Abstract
This article is part of a series of preliminary qualitative surveys of both the
Jewish settlements that once existed in Cyprus and the literature concerned with
those settlements. This study is a documentation of the Jewish presence in Cyprus
from the 1880s to the 1940s. It presents the historical background, maps the
locations of the Jewish colonies, outlines the circumstances which brought about
their existence, describes some aspects of life in those locations, and examines
relations between Jews and the Cypriot populace.
The recent book Place of Refuge by Stavros Panteli (2003) is a significant contribution
to our understanding of the Jewish involvement in Cyprus. This study, however,
uses other useful sources as well, such as the memoirs of camp residents and
the descendents of Jewish settlers, archives in Israel, and the personal accounts
of persons who were involved in or witnessed important events in the lives of
Jews in Cyprus. It is hoped that this documentation triggers further research
on some of the settlements and that the difficulties in such studies will be
overcome.
Ozet
Yahudilerin 1880-1940 tarihleri arasinda Kibris'taki varligini konu alan bu makale,
Yahudi yerlesimleri hakkindaki arastirmalarin niteliksel analizini icerir. Bu
cercevede arastirma, Yahudilerin Kibris'taki tarihlerinin, haritalarda Yahudi
kolonilerinin yerlesim yerlerinin izlerini surerken, onlarin hayat tarzlarini
ve Kibrislilarla olan iliskilerini aktarir. Yakin gecmiste Stavros Panteli (2003)
tarafindan yazilmis olan Place of Refuge baslikli kitap Kibris'taki Yahudi varligini
gosteren cok onemli bir kaynaktir. Bu calismada bu kaynagin yani sira kamplarda
yasayanlarin anilari, Israil'deki arsivler, kisisel anlatilar veya taniklarin
anlatilarindan da yararlanilmistir.
In 1878, by a convention of defensive alliance between the Ottoman
Empire Ottoman Empire (ŏt`əmən), vast state founded in the late 13th cent.
by Turkish tribes in Anatolia and ruled by the descendants of Osman I until its
dissolution in 1918. and England, Cyprus under Ottoman suzerainty su·ze·rain·ty
n. pl. su·ze·rain·ties
The power or domain of a suzerain.
Noun 1. suzerainty - the position or authority of a suzerain; "under the
suzerainty of... was assigned to be occupied and administered by the British.
By that time, the island's Jewish population was dwindling dwin·dle
v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles
v.intr.
To become gradually less until little remains.
v.tr.
To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. . Nevertheless, a new era now
dawned on Cyprus, changing its character forever. Cyprus was now in the hands
of a western colonial power, with deep interests the region in general. In (Ottoman)
Palestine, this was the beginning of the Jewish settlement (1882), referred to
by Settlement Historians as 'the first aliya' (lit. Hebrew 'first ascent' meaning
'first immigration'), or 'the New Yishuv' (lit. Hebrew 'new community'), which
encountered difficulties imposed by the Ottoman Authorities. Some Jewish prospective
settlers to Palestine coming from Europe regarded Cyprus as an 'interim point',
where they could settle in
the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile
I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to
his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified"
meantime, meanwhile
..... Click the link for more information., until a more lenient le·ni·ent
adj.
Inclined not to be harsh or strict; merciful, generous, or indulgent: lenient
parents; lenient rules. settlement policy was introduced by the Ottomans in
Palestine.
The Jewish settlements of Cyprus are still an open issue for research. Panteli's
(2003) research shed some light on the affair and this documentation augments
it using sources not published earlier on scientific platforms. This article
needs to be considered as a natural continuation of a previous article where
an attempt was made to historiographically show the Jewish involvement in Cyprus.
(1) Certainly it is adequate to add here that one faces various problems in doing
surveys of settlements in Cyprus. As the island is now divided, it is impossible
to work on certain historical cites, for these are located in inaccessible military
zones, where photography is forbidden.
The Kouklia--Orides Settlement, 1883
In 1883, a group of Jews purchased a considerable tract of land on the western
side of the island, next to the village of Kouklia. The venture failed; the settlement
was aborted a·bort
v. a·bort·ed, a·bort·ing, a·borts
v.intr.
1. To give birth prematurely or before term; miscarry.
2. To cease growth before full development or maturation.
3. and the place deserted only a few years later. Vilnay (1976) reported that
there are relics relics, part
of the body of a saint or a thing closely connected with the saint in life. In
traditional Christian belief they have had great importance, and miracles have
often been associated with them. of "simple houses", probably remains
of the Jewish houses next to what (at the time of Vinay's writing) was a Government
agricultural experimentation station. Panteli (2003) even pinpoints the location
of Kouklia colony: "[...] some three square
miles A square mil is a unit of area, equal to the area of a square with
sides of length one mil. A mil is one thousandth of an international inch. This
unit of area is usually used in specifying the area of the cross section of a
wire or cable. in extent at Orides, some four miles north-east of Kouklia [...] Palea pa·le·a
n. pl. pa·le·ae
1. A small chafflike bract enclosing the flower of a grass.
2. The chaffy scales on the receptacle of a flower head in a plant of the composite
family. Paphos [sic, in the map Palaipafos, or Pafos as it appears on contemporary
Greek maps] [...]." (2)
There were about 200 Jews from Russia, escaping the pogroms carried out against
the Jewish population. (3) The British were not indifferent to the distressed
Russian and east-European Jews: records uncovered by Panteli show that British
authorities in Cyprus and the secretary
of State for the Colonies The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial
Secretary was the British Cabinet official in charge of managing the various
British colonies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly
troublesome North American colonies. , supported initiatives to settle Jews in
Cyprus, perhaps not only in order to ease their distress, but also to further
British interests: as they thought the island needed an industrious population.
The British authorities in Paphos gave them access to land, on the hills east
of the town but the settlement failed due to improper farmland quality. A settler
identifying himself only as "one of the members", sent a letter to
the Jewish newspaper Hamagid, (4) describing the settlers' difficulties:
They gave us a land of mountains and depressions, full of thorns and prickles, a land no one had passed through before and no man has ever settled, next to the village Koudia [sic] in the Pafos district, and last September we arrived at our property. Our wives and children stayed in the village, and we went up the mountain to do our work; we worked with all our might, to clean up the soil for it to be ready for seeding, and we bored-in wells. But to our dismay, after much labor and effort, we have realized that all will be in vain and we will not be able to turn a forest of thorns into fertile land [...] and especially was to our disadvantage the foul air, so much so that during two moons [months] we lost seven souls from total of one-hundred and sixty-three souls. (5) [My translation, trying to reflect the original Old Hebrew style, DG].
The settlers turned for help to the Governor, who obliged o·blige
v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es
v.tr.
1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means.
2. , and ordered that they be rationed with bread by local police. The 'Mansion
House Fund' in London also provided them with fare money, which most of them
used for travel to England. Three families went to Jerusalem, and four remained
on the island. (6)
The Kouklia--Famagusta Settlement, 1885
One year following the first settlement attempt, another Jewish group, from Romania,
initiated a new settlement venture in Kouklia (named Koprulu by Turkish
Cypriots Ethnically Turkish inhabitants of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus
are referred to as Turkish Cypriots. The term is sometimes used to refer explicitly
to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, as opposed to the Turkish migrants who have
settled there since the Cyprus conflict of 1974. ), on the old road connecting
Famagusta and Nicosia.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
The settlers experienced trouble from the outset. They too sent a letter to Hamagid,
describing their plight:
A Call to Our Brother Israelites From their Romanian Colonists Brothers now on the Island of Cyprus With God's Help; here in the colony on the island of Cyprus, February 1886. To the editor of Hamagid! It is known to all the great trouble which was inflicted on our people in the wicked Romanian Kingdom, to the extent that many of them (if they could only manage it) had to leave the country that rejected them and to seek peace elsewhere. So have we the undersigned, residents of the town of Neamt, Romania, we have formed an association, twenty-five families to leave our homeland, using the little money each of us possessed. We have formed a collective fund and have decided to migrate to the Island of Cyprus, to buy ourselves land to be farmed and secured, and to make a living from our own labor, for we have heard that the land over there is fertile and rich, and the island is under the auspices of the Kingdom of England [sic], and also it is close to the Holy Land. [....] In addition we have sent one of us to Cyprus, to observe personally and learn what we need, and he bought there land for us according to his findings. [...] We need to mention favorably the Alliance Neuen who paid for the ship fare; nevertheless the expenses of our trip were much more then we have estimated. In addition we found here a terribly high cost of living. These are the reasons that our pockets emptied, and we were forced to sell out our houses contents, in order to overcome our hunger. We bought one hundred kilos of grain, and were careful not to eat it; instead we sowed it in the hope that next year we would be able to eat from the harvest. We have also bought a number of cattle. Now we are in great trouble without a possible solution, like a ship about to break in high seas. What are we going to do now? Making a living in other ways is very difficult on this island, and therefore we are almost at the point of starvation. Our children are asking for bread and there is none. We are altogether one-hundred and seventy souls. As long as we could take the suffering we did, and kept quiet, but now we can suffer no more and hunger becomes worse each day. Therefore we ask and beg from our Israelite brethren, passionate sons of the passionate, to have mercy on us and our infants and children so that we will not perish in hunger, to support us until our land yields its harvest later this year. It is known that every colony requires a support in the first year, and why should we be excluded? (7) [....] poverty makes a man insane. Honest God-fearing volunteers will do good by sending their donations to the editor of Hamagid, who will be so kind as to send it to us [...]. (8) [My translation DG] [follows are signatures of 19 persons, a note of the editor mentioning the 1883 Kouklia-Orides failure and his pessimistic view regarding the prospects of Kouklia- Famagusta.]
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
The desperate call for help from Kouklia found hearts in Eretz-Israel, and soon
the Ezrat-Nidachim association from Jerusalem (10) assisted the colony. But this
was probably too little and too late as the money they received was just enough
to send them to Constantinople, where they received additional help to get them
back to Romania. By 1927 most settlers had left, with only two Jewish families
remained to continue farming. They were active until the 1950s, when the operation
was shut down. By the 1970s, the area operated as a Government experimental farm.
(11)
Margo Settlement, 1897
But settlers kept on coming to Cyprus despite the publicized pub·li·cize
tr.v. pub·li·cized, pub·li·ciz·ing, pub·li·ciz·es
To give publicity to.
Adj. 1. publicized - made known; especially made widely known
publicised previous failures. In 1897, a new settlement was formed by a Jewish
immigrant group in Margo, next to the road connecting Nicosia and Larnaka. The
Turkish name for the location is Gaziler.
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
These were Russian and Polish
Jews Note: Names that cannot be confirmed in Wikipedia database nor through
given sources are subject to removal. If you would like to add a new name please
consider writing about the person first. who came from London, and had formed
an association for the management of a venture called Ahavat-Zion, (12) within
their declared target of Cyprus. The association applied for support from the JCA (1)
(Java Cryptography Architecture) An umbrella term from Sun for implementing security
functions for the Java platform. It includes Sun's Java Security API as well
as the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE), which adds more programming interfaces
for encryption , (13) which, having looked into the matter, granted them sponsorship.
They received a loan with which they bought a tract of land amounting to some
4,654 donums (about 1,150 acres). (14) Evidently, the figure who liaisoned the
land-purchase was Paul Blattner, a Jewish Cypriot, described graphically by Panteli
(2003), (15) who persuaded the settlers to buy 'Margo-Ciftlik' (lit. Turkish
'Margo Farm') (16) from the Greek Cypriot, Georgio Papadopoulu. The JCA built
simple houses and structures for livestock, as well as a school, synagogue, bakery
and flourmill for them. The first manager of the farm was Nahum Yitzhak Adler,
a BILU BILU
B-Cell Immunodeficiency, Distal Limb Anomalies, and Urogenital Malformations
(17) member from Russia who immigrated to Palestine, and studied in Mikveh-Israel.
(18) Adler arrived at Margo by the end of 1897, and supervised construction of
ten two-family houses in different sizes. For a large family they allotted al·lot
tr.v. al·lot·ted, al·lot·ting, al·lots
1. To parcel out; distribute or apportion: allotting land to homesteaders; allot
blame.
2. a three-room house, and for small families, two-room house. All houses had
integrated kitchens and a fireplace. In September 1898 the first group of settlers
arrived from England. Adler went to meet them in Larnaka, and drove them back
to the farm, for five hours, in ox-driven wooden carriages. On that ride Adler
met a young woman settler, Esther Bender, whom he married in 1900, then left
for England. The JCA sent in a new manager, Jacob Bergman.
[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]
It was an agricultural venture in the fertile Mesaoria (Mesarya Ovasi) plain,
and the most successful so far. The settlers that endured surprised the locals
with some new
ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie
Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will
It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for
the track. ; such as plowing with horses instead of oxen oxen
adult castrated male of any breed of Bos spp. , and using imported mechanical
agricultural equipment. The Jewish women settlers learned from local women how
to bake in the brick oven.
They grew sesame, grapes, cotton, apricot, almonds and tobacco which they learned
from Lebanese Maronite immigrants. But conditions were harsh: the heat of summer
was intolerable; they were often struck by malaria; there was no running water
in the houses, and there were social problems whereby the settlers felt themselves
lonely and culturally isolated, and so began to leave. The JCA, in an effort
to overcome the difficulties, sent them qualified agronomists from Palestine,
from the Jewish agricultural school Mikveh-Isreal. But to no avail. (19)
By 1912 the colony's population was 155 souls, and so the JCA gave up, and withdrew
its sponsorship. A few years after World War I, the manager of the colony was
sent back to London by the JCA, and most of the settlers realized that without
this vital support it was better to leave for Palestine.
All that remains today of the settlement is its cemetery--the only Jewish
cemetery A Jewish cemetery (Hebr. בית עלמין "Beth Olamin") serves
as any other cemetery for the burial of the dead and holds other qualities which
are not found in Christian cemeteries. in Cyprus. The first to be buried there
was a child who died from malaria, Yossef Bender; then shortly afterwards, some
settlers from Kouklia-Paphos who also died from malaria were buried there. (20)
Jewish Cypriots, not associated with the settlements, and about 150 Jewish 'illegal
immigrants' detained de·tain
tr.v. de·tained, de·tain·ing, de·tains
1. To keep from proceeding; delay or retard.
2. To keep in custody or temporary confinement: by the British in Cyprus in
the 1940s, who died in the detention camps were also buried there. So was Paul
Blattner, who had initiated the purchase of Margo Ciftlik.
At the time of writing the Margo location (2006) is inaccessible, as it is a
military zone and out of bounds for civilians. However, in the summer of 2001,
an Israeli writer, Yadin Roman, obtained special permission to visit the site,
and made a photographic record of the cemetery.
[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]
Margo lasted for almost 30 years, but by 1927 only five families were living
there. The farm was then bought by two brothers from Romania. In the late 1930s
Margo was visited by a traveler from Eretz-Israel, Joseph Weitz, who toured Cyprus
in order to identify fruit-bearing trees which may be transplanted to Palestine.
[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]
Weitz reported 23 families in Margo, (21) and seven families each in Kouklia
(near Famagusta) and Cholmakchi (?) (perhaps Kondea or Pasakoy or Gazikoy). (22)
A descendent of the first-settler group visited Margo in 1954 and reported a
thriving enterprise. In the 1960s the farm was bought by one Charlambidis, a
Greek Cypriot in the dairy
farming dairy farming
Form of animal husbandry that uses mammals, primarily cows, for the production
of milk and products processed from it (including butter, cheese, and ice cream).
business. Information about the farm stops with the Turkish military
operations This is a list of missions, operations, and projects. Missions
in support of other missions are not listed independently. World War I
''See also List of military engagements of World War I
Albion (1917)
in Cyprus in 1974 when the area was taken over by the army and declared a military
zone, since it is located on the 'Green Line' dividing Cyprus.
[FIGURE 8 OMITTED]
Jacob
Bender Jacob David Bender (born April 25, 1985, in Mayo, Maryland) is an
offensive tackle for the New York Jets. He attended Nicholls State University.
Bender was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Jets in the 2007 NFL Draft.
died in Liverpool in 1929. One of his sons Charles Bender, moved to Montreal
where he served as a rabbi for over sixty years. He died in Montreal in 1993,
highly esteemed by the Jewish community in Canada. Nahum Adler also moved to
Liverpool, and from there to Manchester. He died in 1942, after a long service
in the British Zionist
Movement Noun 1. Zionist movement - a movement of world Jewry that arose
late in the 19th century with the aim of creating a Jewish state in Palestine
Zionism . Some of the descendents of these two families live, at the time of
writing, in Israel. Jacob Bergman returned to Palestine in 1931, and settled
in Nes-Ziona. His grandson, Dr. Yaakov Nir is a marine geologist living in the
same area, currently writing about the Margo episode. (23)
[FIGURE 9 OMITTED]
Other Enterprises during the British Period
In 1938 a known Jewish engineer from Palestine, Arpad Gut, was called in by goldmine
owners from Cyprus to advise on gold
extraction Gold extraction or recovery from its ores may require a combination
of comminution, mineral processing, hydrometallurgical, and pyrometallurgical
processes to be performed on the ore. operations and equipment. This occurred
in a place called Kocinomoti (perhaps Kochi about 10 Km northwest of Larnaka),
though the design and production of the equipment was carried out in Rishon Le'Zion
in Palestine. Feurstein (1947) reported that while digging foundations for the
equipment, the Jewish workers unearthed Unearthed
is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name)
hidden talent in regional Australia.
Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia
where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. many archaeological finds.
The equipment was so effective, that a British firm later purchased it for use
elsewhere. (24) The same venture was visited by Weitz in August 1939, who described
it as a gold and copper mine, and identified the owner only as "an ex-farmer
from Margo". He wrote in his travelogue about his encounter with the owner: "His
intention is to affiliate the development of the mine with Eretz-Israel, meaning,
to establish a factory in Palestine for smelting smelting, in
metallurgy, any process of melting or fusion, especially to extract a metal from
its ore. Smelting processes vary in detail depending on the nature of the ore
and the metal involved, but they are typified in the use of the blast furnace.
the ores mined in Cyprus [...] because in Palestine fuel is cheaper". (25)
In the same visit to Cyprus in 1939, Weitz paid a visit to the Troodos range
to learn about the pine trees as the pines that had been planted in Ben-Shemen
Forest in Palestine, were in fact seedlings imported from the Troodos region
in Cyprus. (26)
[FIGURE 10 OMITTED]
Weitz reported: "I compare the growth of those [Troodos pines] to the trees
in Ben-Shemen [...] and I find them very similar. If so, will it be possible
to have [in Eretz-Israel] the same straight tall and erect pines that I found
here?" (29)
The dwindling Jewish farms near Famagusta were transformed into orange groves,
with the help of Jewish investors and orange growers from Palestine. Cyprus had
an advantage over Palestine in terms of marketing fruit in England as fruit from
the Crown
Colony crown colony
n.
A British colony in which the government in London has some control of legislation,
usually administered by an appointed governor. was exempted from taxes while
fruit from Palestine was not, as it was a Mandate territory. In the mid 1930s
Weitz counted 6 groves in the Famagusta
district Famagusta District is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main
town is the island's most important port, Famagusta. The vast majority of the
district was occupied by the Turkish army in 1974, and is currently controlled
by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is only (730 donums or 180
acres), and 8 groves near Larnaka (1240 donums or 306 acres). But the main orange-growing
enterprises initiated by Jews from Palestine were in the Limassol
district Limassol District is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main
town is Limassol. Part of the district is leased to the United Kingdom, since
there are the British military bases there. near the town of Fasoula, (30) where
there was a concentration of orange groves (700 donums or 173 acres). Others,
totaling 3200 donums (790 acres) included grapes, almonds and other fruit-bearing
trees. (31)
Weitz debriefed the person in charge of the orange groves, "a young energetic
dark-faced Eretz-Israeli", who related the events leading to the formation
of the enterprise and the 'Cyprus--Palestine Plantation Company', (32) one of
the major contributors to the now world-famous Cyprus citrus industry:
[In the early 1930s] I bought a 1500 donums farm here [near Fasoula] from an Englishman for a few hundred pounds. I did not even have that much money, so I called upon my friend who joined the venture. We paid 300 pounds, and hoped to pay the balance at a later date. At that time Eretz-Israelis were coming to Cyprus to explore the possibilities of citrus agriculture. We offered them partnership, and this is how the corporation started [....] in 1933 we bore wells and found water. This increased demand for our shares, much beyond the land we had available. We started buying adjacent land; from year to year the area of the plantations increased, and now [Weitz wrote this in 1939 DG] it is about 5,000 donums [...] By that time the corporation started planting not only for its members but also for nonmember investors. We have enlarged the planted area to 3,200 donums for oranges, in addition to the seedless grapes which we grow for raisins, and other fruit-bearing trees and crops. [....] The capital invested today in the corporation is divided into 25 percent English, 15 percent Greek Cypriots, and 60 percent Jewish investors. [...] Our farm has become a model for the islanders; the authorities take pride in it, and exhibit it to visitors as a positive example of advanced farming. (33) [My translation DG].
Weitz also did not neglect the architectural elements of the enterprise, when
he described a layout consisting of a large court, formed by buildings surrounding
it, and a main two-story structure that had a watchtower "similar to what
we have in our new settlements [in Palestine]".
The methodology was probably borrowed from the experience gained in Palestine
in the second half of the 1930s, when dozens of new Jewish settlements were erected,
having the same layout of a yard protected by peripheral structures and a watchtower.
These were called Yishuvei Homa Umigdal, meaning 'Tower-and-Stockade Settlements'.
[FIGURE 11 OMITTED]
Epilogue ep·i·logue also
ep·i·log
n.
1.
a. A short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion
of a play.
b. The performer who delivers such a short poem or speech.
2. and Afterthoughts
By the end of the 19th century there were voices in the newly formed Zionist
Movement to settle Jews in Cyprus as a policy, as it was regarded as a stepping-stone
to settlement in Eretz-Israel. When the Third Zionist Congress met in Basel,
Aug. 15-18, 1899, the question of colonization in Cyprus was brought up by Davis
Trietsch, who had held a preliminary conference to consider the proposal. He
was not allowed to proceed with the question in open discussion, however as the
great majority of the members opposed the proposal. Although refused by the council,
Trietsch persisted, convincing two dozen Romanian
Jews This is a list of Romanians who are or were Jewish or of Jewish ancestry.
Academics
Aaron Aaronsohn, botanist
J. J. Benjamin, historian
Nicolae Cajal, virologist and Jewish community leader
Ştefan Cazimir, literary critic
to immigrate im·mi·grate
v. im·mi·grat·ed, im·mi·grat·ing, im·mi·grates
v.intr.
To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native. See Usage
Note at migrate.
v.tr. to Cyprus. (34) Twenty-eight additional Romanian families followed these
and received assistance from the Jewish
Colonization Association The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA, in Yiddish
ICA) was created on September 11, 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim
was to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and other Eastern European
countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands . These settlers
established farms at Margo, and at Asheriton. In 1902, Theodore Herzl introduced
the idea of establishing Cyprus as the 'Jewish Homeland'. This idea was presented
in a pamphlet to the Parliamentary committee on alien immigration in London,
bearing the title "The Problem of Jewish Immigration to England and the United
States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005
est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The
United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth
largest country in area. Solved by Furthering the Jewish Colonization of Cyprus." (35)
Evidence and remnants of Jewish presence on the Island go back to pre-Christian
times, displaying both good and bad times as the island changed hands and its
populace subjected to various rulers. But it was in the time of the British rule
of the region that the affiliation between the Jewish people and Cyprus became
more intensive. Cyprus was taken over by the British long before they were in
control of Palestine. They were a colonial Power, with a policy of interests--yet
they were attentive to human plight, allowing Jewish settlement on the island.
When the situation in Palestine intensified in the 1940s, they opened the detention
camps for Jewish
refugees In the course of history, Jewish populations have been expelled
or ostracised by various local authorities and have sought asylum from antisemitism
numerous times. The articles History of antisemitism and Timeline of antisemitism
contain more detailed chronology of anti-Jewish in Cyprus.
The Jewish presence in Cyprus throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
await scholarly documentation pending unification of or other political solution
in Cyprus and the opening of the military zones for such studies.
In the meantime, Israelis have a special corner in their hearts for Cyprus and
Cypriots: the peaceful island embracing all those who found their way to it,
and the friendly Cypriots who have extended a welcoming hand to distressed people
through the ages.
Endnotes
* Dedicated to Prodromos Papavasiliou, a Cypriot, lover of Cyprus, who passed
away in Limassol December 2006; and to the following who assisted in this documentation,
in random order: Dr. Michael
Walsh Michael Walsh is the name of:
Michael Walsh (Musician, Bassist in hardcore band 'The Bears and The Wizard.'
Michael Walsh (footballer), English football (soccer) player
, EMU emu or
emeu (both: ē`my), common name for a large, flightless bird of Australia, related
to the cassowary and the ostrich. , Famagusta; Raanan Reshef, Israel; Dubi Meyer,
Israel; Rabbi Micah Greenstein, Memphis, Tenn.; Dr. Ustun Alsac, EMU, Famagusta;
Nevter Zafer, EMU; Prof. Ibrahim Numan, EMU; Armagan Karbulut, Cyprus, and many
more.
(1) D. Goldman, "Famagusta's Historic Detention and Refugee Camps",
Journal of Cyprus Studies 11 (28/29) (2005): 29-49.
(2) Stavros Panteli, Place of Refuge, the History
of the Jews in Cyprus Ancient invaders
Cyprus is the large island located in the east Mediterranean Sea. The first inhabitants
of Cyprus were most probably, Carians; in historical times, Phoenicians; and
later, Greeks. The first Jews settled during the last age of Greek occupancy.
(London and Bath, 2003), 81.
(3) In 1881, following a rumor that the Jews had assassinated as·sas·si·nate
tr.v. as·sas·si·nat·ed, as·sas·si·nat·ing, as·sas·si·nates
1. To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.
2. the Czar, riots (referred to as 'pogroms') took place in the Ukraine in more
than 30 towns, the most intensive in Kiev. Later, on Christmas Day, the Jews
of Warsaw were attacked and on Easter, those of Balta. In 1883 there were more
pogroms, and in 1891-2 Jews were expelled from Moscow.
(4) The first weekly Hebrew newspaper, started at 1856 in Leek leek: see
onion. leek
Hardy, vigorous, biennial plant (Allium porrum) of the lily family, native to
the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It has a mild, sweet, onionlike
flavour. , Prussia, and later in Berlin, Krakow and Vienna.
(5) Hamagid, 28 / 6, July 2, 1884, Historic Hebrew Newspapers, Jewish
National and University Library The Jewish National and University Library
is the national library of the State of Israel and is meant to serve as the "National
Library of the Jewish People" ([1]). .
(6) Shulamit Laskov, 'The British Form a Colony in Cyprus', Et-Mol 16 (1977):
9-10 [Hebrew].
(7) The writer refers to the assistance extended by the Rothschilds: in the early
1880s Baron De Rothschild assisted the new Jewish colonies in Palestine by supporting
them financially. The first colony to be supported was Ekron, later named Mazkeret-Bathia
(1882). The assistance was later expanded to sending agricultural experts and
administrators.
(8) Hamagid, 28, February 2, 1884, 6.
(9) Joshua A Fishman, 'Digraphia Maintenance and Loss among Eastern European
Jews: Intertextual in·ter·tex·tu·al
adj.
Relating to or deriving meaning from the interdependent ways in which texts stand
in relation to each other.
in and Interlingual in·ter·lin·gual
adj.
Of, relating to, or involving two or more languages.
inter·lin Print Conventions in Ashkenazic Linguistic Culture Since 1800'. International
Journal of Sociology
of Language Sociology of language focuses on the language's effect on the
society. It is closely related to the field of sociolinguistics, which focuses
on the effect of the society on the language. 150 (2001): 27-41, 29-31.
(10) In late 1884, Rabbi Israel Dov Fromkin established Ezrat Nidachim, (lit.
Hebrew 'Help for the Remote') Society, formed in London, in honor of Moses and
Judith Montefiore. The goal of the society was to "assist our poor brethren
in finding housing and occupation and to prevent their falling into the hands
of missionaries".
(11) Zeev Vilnay, 'Cyprus', in Ariel: Encyclopedia for Land of Israel Studies
(Tel-Aviv, 1976) [Hebrew], 7031.
(12) (Lit. Hebrew 'Love of Zion') This was choosen perhaps to acknowledge the
influencial novel by the same name by A. Mapu, (1807-67). First Modern
Hebrew Modern Hebrew
n.
The Hebrew language as used from 18th century to the present, and an official
language of Israel. Also called New Hebrew.
Noun 1. novelist and one of the leaders of the Haskalah Movement in Eastern
Europe Eastern Europe
The countries of eastern Europe, especially those that were allied with the USSR
in the Warsaw Pact, which was established in 1955 and dissolved in 1991. . His
most famous book, Ahavat Zion (1853), described the longing of the Jewish people
for a better life. Not to be confused with the Ahavat Zion organization founded
in Tarnow in 1897 with the aim of promoting settlement in Eretz-Israel, a branch
of the Hovevei
Zion
Hovevei Zion is also a popular Israeli musical group.
Hovevei Zion (transliterated Hebrew, alternatively Hibbat Zion; English translation:
[Those who are] Fond of Zion Movement, which merged with the World
Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization, or WZO, was founded
as the Zionist Organization, or ZO, in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress, held
from August 29 to August 31 in Basel, Switzerland . in the late 1890s.
(13) Jewish Colonization Association (also called ICA Ica (ē`kä),
city (1993 pop. 108,724), capital of Ica dept., SW Peru, on the Pan-American
Highway. It is a commercial center for the cotton, wool, and wine produced in
the region. There are several summer resorts nearby. ) founded August 1891 by
the Baron Muarice de Hirsch, to promote Jewish settlement.
(14) Figures vary with sources: Algazi 4000 donums; Roman 11,110 donums. Panteli's
figure (p. 92) is the most supported by contemporary documents.
(15) Panteli, Place of Refuge, 93.
(16) Joseph Weitz, In the Mirror: Chapters of Excursions in Eretz-Israel and
its Neighbors (Israel, 1945), [Hebrew], 263.
(17) Student organization for emigration to Palestine (1882). The name is derived
from the Hebrew abbreviation abbreviation, in
writing, arbitrary shortening of a word, usually by cutting off letters from
the end, as in U.S. and Gen. (General). Contraction serves the same purpose but
is understood strictly to be the shortening of a word by cutting out letters
in the middle, of Isaiah 2:5--"O House of Jacob, come let us go".
(18) Mikveh-Israel (lit. Hebrew 'Immersion to Israel'), a few km east of Jaffa,
Palestine, the first modern rural settlement founded in 1870 as an agricultural
training center. Carl Netter of the Alliance Israelite Universelle received the
land from the Ottoman Empire as a gift and started an agricultural school that
was eventually attended by many of the first Zionist pioneers. Baron Edmond de
Rothschild was involved with funding the school.
(19) Yadin Roman, Photos by Doron Horowitz, 'A Forgotten Place Called Margo',
Eretz Vateva 74 (2001): 37-48 [Hebrew], 38.
(20) Ya'acov Algazi, 'Here in the Land Our Fathers Cherished', Haaretz Weekly
Magazine, February 11 (1994): [Hebrew], 77.
(21) These numbers are in contradiction to the numbers shown in 1927; there is
no supporting evidence to any of the numbers presented.
(22) Weitz, In the Mirror, 265. This location is also mentioned by Yadin Roman
(2001) (see note 18) but does not appear on either Greek or Turkish maps. Ben-Artzi
(2005) describes these locations as a "cluster of Jewish farms and settlements
[that] grew under JCA management, with the nucleus of Jewish agriculturalism
[sic] composed of three regions: Margo, Kouklia and Cholmakchi." Yossi Ben-Artzi,
'Jewish Settlement in Cyprus (1882-1935): Between Enrooting on the Land and a
Springboard to Palestine', presentation in international conference, in: To the
Land! 200 Years of Jewish Agricultural Settlement, June 2005, Tel
Aviv Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on
the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial,
financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest :
Bet Hatefutsoth [Hebrew].
(23) Algazi, "Here in the Land", 80.
(24) Emil Feurstein, Engineer Arpad Gut and His Enterprise (Tel Aviv, 1947) [Hebrew],
34-5.
(25) Joseph Weitz, My Diary and Letters to the Children, Second Vol.: Footholds
and Outposts (Israel, 1965) [Hebrew], 87.
(26) KKL KKL
Kampala Kids League (Uganda)
KKL Kristelig Kringkastingslag (Norwegian organization for Christian Broadcasting) Website,
History of the KKL, http://www.kkl.org.il/KKL/hebrew/nosim_ikarim/al_kakal/history/
asorkkl/asorim.x (accessed January, 2007).
(27) The Ottoman law that that applies in the event of failure to cultivate for
three consecutive years; the land reverts to the State as 'Mahlul' (vacant land). Mark
LeVine Mark Levine is the name of:
Mark Levine (musician) Jazz musician.
Mark Levine (journalist) Host of Mark Levine's Inside Scoop radio show,
and The American Dream television show on Press TV.
Mark LeVine History professor.
, 'Conquest through Town
Planning town planning: see city planning. : The case of Tel-Aviv, 1921-48', Journal
of Palestine Studies The Journal of Palestine Studies was established in
1971. It is published and distributed by University of California Press on behalf
of the Institute for Palestine Studies. The current editor is Rashid Khalidi
of Columbia University. 27 (Summer, 1998): 36-52, 37.
(28) KKL = Jewish national Fund (JNF JNF
Jewish National Fund
JNF Junior Non Fiction (library) ), established in 1901.
(29) Weitz, My diary and Letters, 87.
(30) The (Hebrew) text in Weitz (1945) indicates a village named Fasouri, which
does not appear on the maps. The closest is Fasoula, elevation 400, 6 Km north
of Limassol. There is another Fasoula east of Paphos, at elevation 200.
(31) Weitz, In the Mirror, 277-8.
(32) There were actually two organizations; the other was 'Cyprus Farming Company',
founded also in the 1930s. Panteli, Place of Refuge, 110-11.
(33) Weitz, In the Mirror, 278-9.
(34) Gottheil, "Richard and Samuel
Krauss Samuel Krauss (1866-1948) was professor at the Jewish Teachers' Seminary,
Budapest, 1894-1906, and at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Vienna, 1906-1938.
He came to England as a refugee and spent his last years at Cambridge. , Cyprus", Jewish
Encyclopedia Not to be confused with Encyclopaedia Judaica.
The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901
and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes
on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as , http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=948&letter=C
(accessed January, 2007).
(35) British Embassy, Vienna, the UK and Austria Bilateral Relations, "Herzl
in England," http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xce
lerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1107298483043 (accessed January, 2007).
Danny
Goldman Danny Goldman (born New York City) is an American actor, voice artist,
and, more recently, casting director. Among his many notable credits include
a small role in Young Frankenstein, the voice of Brainy Smurf and Ozzie the Answer
in the 80s detective drama
Eastern
Mediterranean University General
The university has 50 departments offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees,
as well as a research infrastructure, and the medium of instruction is entirely
in English.
